Free Republic

IN JUNE 2005, before an enthusiastic audience at World Environment Day in San Francisco, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared that, "California will be a leader in the fight against global warming... We know the science. We see the threat. And we know the time for action is now." That same day, Gov. Schwarzenegger signed an executive order to reduce California's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by approximately 30 percent by the year 2020 — establishing the most ambitious state-level emission reduction goal in history. The executive order also created a Climate Action Team (CAT), led by the Cal/EPA, to develop strategies and...

MONTREAL (Reuters) - While U.S. President George W. Bush refuses to accept the Kyoto Protocol to cut greenhouse gas emissions, at least 40 million Americans will find themselves bound to the international treaty to curb global warming. Since the protocol took effect last February, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels has convinced 192 cities to agree to cut emissions 7 percent from 1990 levels by 2012 -- the recommended target for the United States, which emits 25 percent of the world's heat-trapping gases. The cities join an increasing number of states, including California and New York, and leading corporations choosing to follow...

When it comes to global warming, making promises is easy. Keeping them is hard, California is learning. Six months ago, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made international news when he committed the state to meeting strict targets reducing greenhouse gases as a way to fight global warming. A closer look at California's emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases that scientists say cause global warming reveals that even under the best scenarios, California will miss Schwarzenegger's targets by a wide margin. According to a new report, the state will miss the goals by at least 21 percent by 2020 unless his administration...

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who enthused activists and unnerved business leaders with many of his early appointments to top environmental slots, is increasingly favoring industry officials for key jobs protecting California's forests, air and water. Schwarzenegger's effort to be a green Republican has been one of the principal ways the governor has depicted himself as being above Sacramento's traditional partisan divides. But in a reversal from the beginning of his tenure, it is now environmentalists who are objecting that Schwarzenegger has bent too far to one side. --snip-- "We have seen a change in the wrong direction," said Bill...